News & Media
Alistair Scrutton: Social media holds the key to Hazare's campaign success
IROM Sharmila has been on hunger strike for ten years to protest against military abuses, force-fed by tubes through her nose. But the tragedy for the world's most resolute hunger striker is that she is on the wrong side of India's digital divide.
Digital divide: Why Irom Sharmila can’t do an Anna
Irom Sharmila has been on hunger strike for 10 years to protest against military abuses, force-fed by tubes through her nose. But the tragedy for the world’s longest hunger strike is that she is on the wrong side of India’s digital divide.
When revolutions go viral
Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, the urban Indian youth, famously detached from the goings-on in the country, came out on the streets to support the anti-corruption movement - not only here but abroad as well. TOI-Crest looks at the anatomy of a modern protest movement.
Net Gain
The draft Electronic Service Delivery Bill, 2011, is aimed at making government services available online. But there are many hurdles to bringing in effective e-governance, says Hemchhaya De
IISc students boycott UID, don’t want Big Brother to keep watch
The programme doesn’t have statutory backing. It is still in parliament
In the Right Circle
I’ve been on Google Plus for a few weeks now. In the beginning, it felt like showing up early at a much-talked-up party. There was a small scatter of people, poking around, examining the place, making preliminary conversation with the few others they knew. Most of the talk was, unsurprisingly, about Google Plus.
The Siege of Android: How Google Lost The OS War
In a narrative beginning in 2016 and ending today, Forbes India recalls how the once irrepressible Google lost the mobile OS war
The Unsocial Network
Has social media become a threat to democratic states even as it serves as a vehicle against totalitarian regimes? Its abuse during the London riots has reopened the question.
Hazare 'clicks' with city techies
These days revolutionaries, crusaders and even rioters use social networking to further their cause. After the Arab Spring and the London riots, social networking is now playing a key role in Anna Hazare's ongoing anti-corruption campaign. Bangalore techies are in demand to run the show.
Govt wants to monitor Facebook, Twitter
The Union home ministry has written to the department of telecom asking it to "ensure effective monitoring of Twitter and Facebook".
Nothing unique about this identity
Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking peeping tom to install your window blinds, opined, not long ago, the American poet and novelist John Perry Barlow once. The statement attains significance in the context of Unique Identification (UID) project which is being touted as a milepost in inclusive politics. Liberalisation evangelists see UID project as the most virtuous thing that can ever happen to the Indian people who find themselves excluded from the system.
Tired of tele-marketing calls? Act on privacy right: Experts
Annoyed with unsolicited calls from insurance and banking companies? Under the proposed Right to Privacy Act, such calls would be considered a violation and the company responsible penalised up to Rs 5 lakh. The draft Right to Privacy Bill says that no person with a business in the country can collect or disclose any data relating to any individual without his/her consent.
When Knowledge Isn’t Written, Does It Still Count?
“MAKING fun of Wikipedia is so 2007,” a French journalist said recently to Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation that runs the Wikipedia project.
Indian super-cops now patrol the www highway
There's discontent brewing in the Indian cyberspace. And it has to do with the government blocking content that it deems "objectionable". What has raised hackles of Internet freedom activists is a new set of rules that allow Internet service providers (ISPs) and blogging sites to remove "objectionable" content from the Web.
Better Understanding of the Idea of Privacy Sought
Understanding the ways in which an individual's privacy is violated will help provide a better definition of privacy in India. At a public conference called ‘Privacy Matters' held at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) here on Saturday, speakers underscored the need for discussions surrounding the privacy bill.
Converting Indian Slacktivists Takes (Offline) Time
No matter how much attention an online protest campaign might appear to be getting in terms of likes, fans or retweets, it’s rarely likely to be able to draw even a fraction of its Internet supporters to a street protest. That’s as true in India as anywhere else in the world, it appears.
Portal augurs well for transparency
Data.gov.in will have meta-data, which will facilitate discovery of data and access from portals of ministries, says T Ramachandra. The article was published in the Hindu on 25 July 2011.
Facebook, my boyfriend is lousy
While a sizeable chunk of users do not mind living their life in public, oversharing can have nasty repercussions in real life. This article by Sahana Saran was published in the Bangalore Mirror on 24 July 2011.
UID: The World’s Largest Biometric Database
At the start of his presentation, Sunil Abraham pointed to two aerial drawings of cybercafes: one where each computer was part of a private booth, and one where the computers were in the open so the screens would be visible to any one. Which layout would be more friendly to women, and why, Abraham wanted to know. Some participants selected the first option, liking the idea of the privacy, while others liked the second option so that the cybercafe owner would be able to monitor users’ activities.
Webcam Anti-Corruption in India (NY Times)
In India, Oomen Chandy (67), governor of the state of Kerala, who wants to fight against corruption, has installed a webcam filming his office 24 hours on 24 and another who is filming one of his assistants, reports The New York Times. This news by Gilles Klein was published in @rret Sur Images on 18 July 2011.
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